


It's Not Magic

by Charles L (HowNovel)



Category: Starman (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1988-06-11
Updated: 1988-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 18:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowNovel/pseuds/Charles%20L
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How exactly does that sphere work, anyway?</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not Magic

**IT’S NOT MAGIC By Charles L**

Charles L has a degree in business administration and works as a planner for the state of Maryland. Now 55, he has lived in many places in the United States. Being the son of a career naval officer who served abroad during World War II, he appreciates the father-son relationship in STARMAN.  
  
---  
  
In an early episode of STARMAN, Scott, who is just getting to know his space-alien father, refers to the sphere carelessly as the "magic marble”. Starman corrects him by saying “It's not magic". By this he means that its operation is governed by scientific principles, some of which we humans have not yet discovered. 

The twenty-two episodes of the first season of STARMAN provide clues as to what these principles are. Using some human, scientific principles and a little imagination, we can find out what they might be.

**Invisible Energy Surrounds Us**

To understand the sphere, we must first be aware that the Universe is filled with energy in various forms. According to the scientific law of the conservation of energy, it can be neither created nor destroyed. 

Electro-magnetic radiation from deep space reaches earth as radio frequency waves. Earth is bombarded by a "solar wind” which contains other kinds of energy than visible light. We are surrounded by an electro-magnetic field which affects us, and which we can use to a limited extent. 

Much of the energy we use on Earth originates from solar radiation. We know how to collect it directly in passive heat storage systems and to redirect it with mirrors. We are learning to convert it to electricity. Also, over the ages, the sun's energy has been converted by ancient plant-life into coal and oil. We know how to make these work for us by burning them. In the process of doing that work, their energy is changed into a form that is beyond recovery at our present level of knowledge. 

**Energy-Based Beings**

Pure energy simply disperses. Without some physical substance to house their capabilities, how would thoughts, memories, ideas—all that make up what we call intelligence in a person—be related to each other? Why else would this alien race need to manufacture things such as spaceships to take them to other planets?

However, it is clear from the "high energy levels” that Fox detected in the temporarily-captured Starman that he comes from a race of energy-based beings. This alien race is fragile, in our environment, at any rate, and to stay on Earth, Starman has to clone a human body. Doing so also enables him to relate to human society, especially to his son, and to blend in with it.

On their home planet, Starman's people (like the human race on our planet) are probably not physically strong enough to accomplish all the tasks required to maintain their way of life. As energy-based beings, they are acutely sensitive to the need to have supplies of energy readily available to sustain their existence, similar, to our need for food and water. In “Starscape I", Starman tells Scott in the salad-bar scene, "All life forms need food--that's true all over the universe." His use of the word "food" here is synonymous with "energy". By consuming food, humans obtain the energy they need to function; in a less direct form than Starman’s people.

**The Spheres and their Energy**

At some point in their history, the people of Starman's world discovered or made a material that is able to collect and re-use energy. From this material they manufactured the spheres that play such an important role in their lives.

The sphere does not have the capability to do anything that Starman cannot do by himself. It merely enlarges or amplifies his capability to do it. It is a tool for him, in the same way that hammers, saws, and wrenches are useful tools for us. Unlike our tools, each of which has a specialized use, his sphere can perform a variety of functions. In the episode “Fatal Flaw”, Scott says that the sphere is "kind of like a Swiss army knife". He is understating the case!

In “Starscape II”, George Fox tells General Elliott that the sphere is unlike any known natural or man-made material on Earth. He says it is identical to the fragments collected from Starman's first spaceship (that was shot down so vividly in the 1984 movie STARMAN). As long as pieces of this craft exist, it is possible that more spheres could be made.

When he uses the sphere to call up memories of that first visit to Earth, Starman causes the spaceship fragment in Building ll, which is across the valley, to emit energy. This sends needles off the charts in the monitoring equipment. Such energy gathering capability suggests that his spaceship wouldn't need a large fuel supply onboard because it could collect and use radiant energy from the stars as it travels through space.

**Like a Triode**

The sphere operates very much like the triode in an old radio amplifier. A triode is a type of vacuum tube which uses a low voltage signal current to output a stronger or amplified signal. In the case of the sphere, the signal current is the mental image which Starman projects into it. Human brainwaves, which are a form of low-voltage electrical energy, give us a way to picture how this image could stimulate the sphere.

Starman’s mental image consists of three separate parts transmitted simultaneously. The first part is a picture of the existing object he wants affect or the new object he wants to create. The second part identifies the type of energy he wants to use. The third part is the location to which he wants to project the energy. This is transmitted to the sphere as a direction and a distance.

**“It’s like shooting pool…”**

The angle between the sphere, Starman, and the object, and the distance between the sphere and the object are crucial to the success of its use. In “Blue Lights”, Starman demonstrates his mastery of angles in successfully completing a game of 8-Ball.

This gives him the analogy he uses in the jail-breaking scene in the same episode. When arrested, he has to give up the sphere, but in Scott’s case, the deputy overlooks it. In jail, Starman tries to instruct Scott from whom he is separated by a thick wall. He says he has to see the sphere to do it himself, and compares controlling it to lining up the shots in pool. When Scott can’t get it to work, Starman positions a mirror so that he can see the sphere his son is holding. Then he can melt the heavy lock on Scott’s cell door and let him escape.

The process of transmitting an image may sound complicated to us, but it is mostly a matter of practice, much like the development of hand-eye coordination in humans. We have a parallel in radar technology: the elements of direction and distance are generated as basic data by a radar beam and then converted into a precise location by the computer in the radar set. Starman accomplishes this in reverse. He mentally converts the location of the object into a direction and distance and then transmits it to the sphere.

We have to acknowledge his high mental skill level in his exercise of his alien powers. He makes visualizing the relationship between himself, the sphere and the object appear as just second nature to him. As a stellar navigator, he knows the relationships among all the stars regardless of from what angle he is seeing them. In “The System”, he uses this knowledge to determine the location where a photograph was taken, in order to locate a fugitive from justice.

**Limitations: Scott and the Sphere**

On the other hand, Scott, who has inherited some of this energy and ability, is still struggling to master the sphere. He has to learn these geometric skills and, at the same time, he is trying to assimilate his father’s instructions. In the jail-escape scene, Starman tries to encourage, him by saying, "Think about what you want it to do! Picture it happening in your mind! Concentrate! Just relax and focus!" 

But just as his teacher needs to understand what to explain to him, Scott apparently needs practice in both spatial relationships and in imaging. He might have more success if he were to hold the sphere at eye level while looking directly at the object. But in “Blue Lights” he doesn’t try this. Instead, he tries to “shoot from the waist” as he has seen his father do, or he might have been able to melt the lock himself. 

Another reason that Scott has such a hard time activating the sphere is that he cannot project as strong an image as his father can. In its normal state, the sphere is inert. But whi1e it is bombarded with a metal image of sufficient power, it begins to draw in energy from the area immediately around it. As a byproduct of the energy accumulation process, a weak secondary field forms around the sphere, causing it to glow. 

This is similar to the electrical field around a coil through which a current is passing. The rate of energy accumulation is determined by the strength of the signal and the size of the sphere. When Scott uses his sphere, it takes longer to light up, and does not glow as brightly as his father’s. 

How well Scott will eventually master the sphere will depend in part on how much of his father’s power to project mental images he has inherited. It will also depend on what threshold power level it takes to activate the sphere. 

If, for example, Starman can project a mental command to the sphere that is ten times the threshold level needed to activate it, and if Scott has half of his father's energy level, then he should be able to use the sphere effectively once he has grasped the spatial relationships aspect. However, if Starman has only twice the minimum power needed, Scott is likely to have trouble, using the sphere all his life, since he would have only barely enough power to operate it.

**FUNCTIONS OF THE SPHERE**

In the television series STARMAN, many episodes present new uses for the sphere. Others show variations on ways that it functions in preceding episodes. In most cases it is Starman himself who accomplishes these feats, since Scott is often unsuccessful in operating it. In the remainder of this article, I outline several ways in which Starman uses the sphere to help someone, or to avoid capture.

**1\. To manipulate mechanisms activated manually or by electrical energy.**

Examples abound in the series. One is Starman's opening the monorail doors and activating the train's controls in the pilot episode "The Return". Starman senses the presence of the energy patterns leading to the mechanisms and supplies the energy needed to activate them. For manua1ly-operated mechanisms such as door locks, handcuffs, etc., he has to move the internal working parts of the objects until he gets them open. He may achieve this by heating the air next to their surfaces to start them moving, and their kinetic energy and inertia keeps them turning.

It is an indication of his mental power that he can often do this without the sphere, by transmitting the mental command to small locks through his hand alone. In this way he opens the locked bathroom door behind which Eric hides his departure in “Fathers and Sons”.

 **2\. To transmit heat.**

Any temperature above Absolute Zero indicates the presence of heat energy, even though it may not be warm enough to sustain human life. In the temperature range associated with human existence, there is ample heat in the air, water, and ground surface to provide Starman with the energy he needs for his actions. In daytime he also has solar energy. In "Starscape", he discourages a man from bothering Jenny by making him feel too hot, which causes him to leave the bar.

**3\. The “real" fire starter.**

Starting a fire is heat transmission at a more intense level. When he first attempts it, in "Blue Lights", Scott has no clear understanding of how to use his sphere. He looks at the sphere, and at the firewood, and thinks about fire. The sphere begins to glow, indicating that the wood is being heated. At the crucial moment, however, he looks away from the dead campfire toward the lantern. 

This error has two effects. One, his mental concentration on his command image of wood catching fire is broken and the passive thought "I see a blue light" replaces it. Two, the strength of the signal he is sending to the sphere drops off, but the sphere doesn't stop working. 

To use the vacuum tube analogy again, when the filament current to a tube is cutoff, the tube will still emit electrons until it cools down. The sphere seems to work in a similar way. Scott breaks his concentration while the sphere is still gathering energy, and the weak image of light energy rep1aces the strong command image of heat energy as fire. 

Scott's subconscious mind knows the sphere. In his sleep this mind is active: it sends the cry for help in "The Return”. This is what brings Starman back to Earth. Even before Scott knows consciously who his real father is—and what this little metal ball is, the only thing he has from his parents—his inner mind is able to activate it. 

Scott doesn't consciously tell the sphere to put the blue lights in the sky. Probably, it is the fascination with lights in his strong subconscious mind that has this result. He doesn't send a mental command to the sphere as to where he wants a single blue light to appear. Therefore when, he looks in the general direction of the sky, it projects multiple images of the light around his point of aim. Likely they are holographic images. 

In "Starscape I”,Scott demonstrates that he has learned a lot since then. He succeeds in starting a campfire to keep the injured Geffner warm. He concentrates the heat energy without letting himself be distracted. The action is not unlike using a lens to concentrate solar energy at a pinpoint to ignite paper or small kindling.

 **4\. To produce holographic images.**

A laser beam is coherent light. It has a single wavelength, and does 'not, diverge unless broadened by a lens or lens system. When reflected off an object from two directions, two laser beams create an interference pattern, on a treated glass plate. By shining light through this plate we can reconstitute a three-dimensiona1 image of the original object. 

For Starman to be able to create holograms is a truly remarkable power. To achieve this, he sends the sphere a mental image of what he wants it to project, along with the command to use laser light energy. The curved surface of the sphere may be able to act as a' lens, despite its opacity. In "Grifters”, Starman confidently sends a three-dimensional image of an ongoing fire engine to derail his pursuers. Despite knowing it is an illusion,Fox and Wylie leap from the pursuit vehicle, which then crashes into a wall. Starman escapes again.

**5\. To convert thoughts into visual images.**

This seems to work in similar fashion to the creation of holographic images, but. in this case he does not use an inanimate object such as a fire engine, but his own memories or those of others. He amplifies them to make them vivid so that they will influence the actions of others. 

In “Starscape I”,he recreates scenes from his first visit to Earth. These scenes follow closely Jenny's reaction of distress after sending him away because he awakens her painful memory of lost love. This suggests that she is seeing them as well--or that he is transmitting an enhanced projection of what her mind sees. This may be why she changes her mind and follows him. 

**6\. To read thoughts or emotions.**

Thoughts and emotions are transmitted by brainwaves, which as we have seen, are low-voltage electrical energy. The sphere amplifies them so that Starman can comprehend them more easily. In “Fatal Flaw”, perceiving the paralyzed Conrad Bennett's fear, Starman uses the sphere to help him read thoughts imprisoned in Bennett's mind by his disability.

Emotions have varying frequencies; Starman distinguishes anger as having a higher reading than contentment. Experiments with animals show that reducing their brainwave frequency has a pacifying effect. Starman can do this without the sphere when confronted by a vicious dog in the early episode “Like Father, Like Son”. When he guides his reluctant son to calm a wild cougar in the same way, Scott comes to a fuller acceptance of him as his father.

**7\. To heal physical injuries.**

There are several examples of this in different episodes. The energy of the sphere doesn't create anything,' it just speeds up the rate at which the healing process takes place. But Starman has to know what is wrong in order to image the healing. In "Barriers" he knows by how it feels that his ankle is sprained, and when he has the opportunity, he heals it. 

But in "Peregrine" he can't heal the falcon until he has the diagnosis of the veterinarian. Similarly, he can’t restore Julie's sight in "Appearances" because he has no expert diagnosis. While explaining to Julie that the sphere is not magic, he says, "I can't fix something when I don't know what’s wrong with it." 

However, in the movie, the Starman character knows a great deal about the cellular structure of animals. In a magical moment he restores to life and freedom an apparently dead deer tied down onto a car. There seems to be an inconsistency in his knowledge and powers between the movie and the TV series that he now cannot perceive what is causing Julie's blindness. 

Probably the producers decided to make the character unable to do things like this in order to make a point. None of us understands how to raise a deer from the dead. When Starman does it in the movie, it seems like magic or a divine act. But the operation of the sphere is not faith-healing, which depends on divine intervention without any medical knowledge on the part of the healer. It is also not magic. The sphere’s healing action depends on its owner’s mental comprehension of the problem, and on his formulation of a specific command image. 

**8\. To repair broken objects.**

To simplify recklessly, individual atoms cling to one another because of an elasticity produced by the way their outer electrons interact. When these bonding forces are placed under a stress that exceeds the limits of this elasticity, molecular fatigue (commonly called "breakage") occurs, and the molecules separate. We can restore elasticity in some materials such as metals by applying sufficient' heat so that they can again interact. 

We don't know how to restore the elasticity of pottery, but Starman does. Glue rejoins pieces but leaves visible cracks. In "Society's Pet”, Starman repairs the expensive vase that Scott broke accidentally. First, he triggers kinetic energy in the fragments and guides them to reassemble correctly. Then he applies another more mysterious kind of energy to reestablish the elasticity between the pieces. The result is not a repaired vase with glued cracks, but a perfect, unbroken one with its full collector’s value. This convinces the wealthy, doubtful Antonia Weyburn to trust him and to believe in the necessity of getting Scott out of Fox's clutches. 

**9\. To search-for other spheres.**

The similarity between radar and the sphere is involved here. A beam of energy radiates in the direction Starman commands. When it strikes another sphere, part of the energy is reflected back to his sphere. The other sphere is activated and also begins to glow. 

In "The Return", Starman does this in order to show Scott that he is his father. When the sphere in Scott's hand begins to glow, he drops it and flees in fear, since at this point he knows nothing about Starman or the special powers he has inherited. 

In "Society's Pet", Starman finds out that Scott has not left the house when he uses the sphere to look for him. The energy that is reflected back to Starman’s sphere, even when Scott is not looking at or holding his, gives the father a reading of both direction and distance.

**10\. Apparent transmutation of objects.**

This is the most difficult effect to understand or explain. Transmutation would involve changing the very atomic structures. In "Best Buddies”, Starman seems to transmute a pistol which had been converted into a cigarette lighter back into a working pistol. He raises it, fires it, then tosses it on the ground. Starman, does this without the help of the sphere, just by holding and looking at the object. 

Real transmutation would have used a lot of energy out of his personal supply. But immediately after that, showing no sign of tiredness, he uses the sphere to flatten the tires of the police cars so that Fox can't give chase. There is a problem here. Thirty-three years in the Army Reserve have given me detailed knowledge about this kind of weapon. I know it could not actually be fired after conversion to a cigarette lighter. And even if it is transmuted, I cannot detect any point in this scene at which the• hammer is cocked, which would have to happen before such a pistol could be fired.

Obviously, to shoot this scene it would be necessary to have two pistols identical in appearance, one of which is a working gun, the other a lighter. After the escape, Jake asks Starman, "Did you switch guns or what?” Starman didn't, but the prop man surely did. 

It could be that the writer chose this sphere trick for its entertainment value and to fit the requirements of the plot. In the light of these facts, it does seem that in this instance the producers let down their guard slightly on keeping all of the actions involving the sphere logical. Fox later tries firing the gun and discovers that it is again—or still—a cigarette lighter. Whatever the explanation of how it is done, firing the cigarette lighter accomplishes his aim of unsettling George Fox for long enough for the alien to escape. 

This psychological effect suggests that it must be another of Starman' s potent illusions. He fires the gun into the air, so that no non-existent bullet hole or absence of ricochet can reveal the trick to the government agents. Speaking in terms of the story, he may be using the heat energy of the flame to create an explosive sound effect instead. 

**11\. To transmit physical force.**

Kinetic energy is the ability of a body or object in motion to do useful work. The use of falling water to turn a wheel—or a turbine which generates electricity—is one example. The sphere may obtain .this energy from Earth's rotation on its axis or from its magnetic field. 

Starman uses this sphere function on several occasions. In “Secrets", in one of the most entertaining scenes in the whole series, he makes a skull jump into Wylie's hands, distracting him thoroughly. This gives Scott the opportunity to escape from Fox's assistant and lock him in instead. 

These are examples of how the sphere functions in the series STARMAN. In all the variety of incidents we have seen there is one overriding common factor. The special effects are always entertaining to watch, and viewers enjoy seeing what Starman can do, and speculating about how he does it. 

  


**THE END**  



End file.
